Ted Hughes (1930 - 1998) was a modern poet whose poetry is equally attractive for juvenile readership and serious readers. In each of his poems, he talks about a different animal and often conveys deeper meanings through the use of symbols and imagery. Children love to linger on the superficial text whereas the advanced learners get amusement from the profundity of thought imperceptibly conveyed through different poetic devices. His famous poem ‘The Thought Fox’ is a vivid exemplar of meta poetry – a poetry about writing of poetry itself. It is evident from the title that the fox is a metaphor of thought (Fox = thought) whereas whole of the poem is a manifesto of the creative process that goes on in the poet’s mind when he does poetry. This is how beautifully and symbolically the poem opens; “I imagine this midnight moment's forest: Something else is alive Beside the clock's loneliness.” The slate of poet’s mind is fully blank. His mind is in a s...
February 21, 2025
Symbolism in Ted Hughes' Poetry | 'The Thought Fox' and 'The Jaguar'
Ted Hughes (1930 - 1998) was a modern poet whose poetry is equally attractive for juvenile readership and serious readers. In each of his poems, he talks about a different animal and often conveys deeper meanings through the use of symbols and imagery. Children love to linger on the superficial text whereas the advanced learners get amusement from the profundity of thought imperceptibly conveyed through different poetic devices. His famous poem ‘The Thought Fox’ is a vivid exemplar of meta poetry – a poetry about writing of poetry itself. It is evident from the title that the fox is a metaphor of thought (Fox = thought) whereas whole of the poem is a manifesto of the creative process that goes on in the poet’s mind when he does poetry. This is how beautifully and symbolically the poem opens; “I imagine this midnight moment's forest: Something else is alive Beside the clock's loneliness.” The slate of poet’s mind is fully blank. His mind is in a s...
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